questions for brokers & owners with regards to detention pay

It's called "buying the night" and it happens all over the US to paramedics and firefighters alike. You get paid 7-23 but from 23-7 you don't get paid unless you're out on a call.

 

If a FF is dispatched to a false alarm is he paid?

 

There are no winners at the detention game. Dry loads, most customers will pay you 35-60 bucks after two hours, reefer loads will pay you 50-100 per hour but they start at the three to five hour window. Everything is spelled out to you when you go thru the hiring / bidding process.

Drivers don't like it, and neither do brokers (even when they make a few bucks in the process). Unfortunately some people think they can ask for $100.00 per hour since the first minute they arrive, and if they don't they can hold the product hostage for leverage. Truth is there is no leverage even if you think there is and most brokers will make a valid attempt to work with you. That leverage has been taken care of the moment you a) signed a broker / carrier agreement and b) the moment you signed / received a rate confirmation prior to taken the load. Read what you have signed, and I guarantee you it was clearly spelled for you.

 

If it's between 23-07 yes. But you also have to think of the danger levels. It's a whole different topic in and of itself. And we pay TONU. Can't speak for others.

 

I once got paid $2000 for TONU yet the truck didn't even move an inch they hired our expedited team on friday afternoon to delivery sunday night ...then friday night they decided to go by air and spend stupid money...so i guess 2k wasn't much for them since I told them the truck has to sit now till monday so I charged the customer for 2 extra days $1000 a day, $500 to each driver for doing absolutely nothing

 

So are you saying to me that if a FF gets dispatched at 09:00, jumps in his personal vehicle and burns his personal fuel at 8 mpg to get to a false alarm 100 miles away he is not paid anything? Zero? Not even paid for his fuel? That is what many expect of a trucking company......including landstar.

As long as you continue to say "WE pay TONU", I will need to remind you that your definition of fair TONU may be different than the Carrier's. The fact is you have demonstrated a lack of respect for Carrier's time and lost revenue in past discussions.

And, so long as you choose to fly under the landstar jolly roger, you should expect to be lumped in with the other scum that fly under that pirate flag. Nothing against you personally, but if you sail with pirates then people are likely to consider you a pirate.

And danger levels are irrelevant to this discussion. We are talking about compensation for detention/tonu......not to diminish the dangers of strapping yourself to 80,000 lbs and hurtling up hill and down dale at 60 mph day in and day out. I'd wager there is a truck driver killed or maimed just about every day in America. Those of us that get out there know how often we drive by those wrecks.

 

Rubbermaid, 16 hours to get loaded. Never again. Paid $700 detention on the load and since we got out late another day at the delivery since consignee closed at 3 pm. Then 7 hours to unload the next morning. 2 1/2 days on a 350 mile run. $950 in detention plus $725 on the run. Not enough for half a weeks work.

 

And your customer paid it??? If they did, don't you ever lose those guys!!!

On the situation you are speaking about, if they hired you Friday afternoon and told you they didn't need the truck by Friday night (a few hours away), they could have easily offer you the $150.00 TONU and say goodbye. They are "technically" not responsible for your truck having to sit all weekend in there.

 

So you got $2,375.00 revenue on 350 miles run, 2 1/2 days and you are complaining? I am assuming that Rubbermaid load was dry, and I would also assume most likely it cost you at most $300.00 on fuel?

If that is the case, then you profited $ 2075.00 in 2 1/2 days. I mean I understand the cost of equipment, insurances, maintenance and Uncle Tom but how much a trucker expects to make these days? Are you guys aware people out there with College degrees (which set them back 170K + interest like you with your investment) are being offered 35K-40K per year? Are you aware there are people like me with 20 years experience in business, college degree & speaking a couple of different languages get offered waaay less than what you are talking about?

So how much you think a trucker should make and how you rationalize and justify the amount, keeping into consideration the situation in which this country is today?

 

A fair question but the variable not considered is my wife and I run team. We work 12 hours a day each, 7 days a week with just a couple of days off a month. If we do not clear $22,000 a month before maintenance I am not happy. I am certainly not going to apologize for expecting to make a living doing this. Your average college graduate with a BA in Communications or Poli Sci should have planned better. Why would you assume my wife and I did not attend college? Also, I have three kids in college (well, one just graduated), Unless you are attending a very high end private school, a four year degree costs a heck of lot less than $170k (plus 2 1/4% interest) My success is not determined by someone else's inability to be successful. Just out of college I was making less than 30,000 a year.